RAILWAY ROUTE

Gisborne Times, Volume LXV, Issue 10320, 1 February 1927, Page 2

RAILWAY ROUTE

INLAND ROUTE POLICY.

HARBOR BOARD DIVIDED.

An appeal for support to its advocacy that the Gisborne-Wairoa railway should be constructed on the inland route was contained in a. letter from the Chamber of Commerce received by the Harbor Board yesterday! The Chamber detailed its efforts to obtain the construction of the GisborneWairoa railway, which had met with much opposition pointing out the Government was. the Chamber contended, wrongly bent on justifying the expenditure on the Wairoa-Waikoko-pu railway by continuing /the lino along tlie coast Gisborne. A rail-' way along the coast could not be expected to earn much revenue and could not assist trade* and there was oiie stretch of over 15 miles where no station could be erected on the coast route, whereas a Ration would bo situated 7 miles apart on the inland route. The Chamber further dwelt on the possibilities of trade and development of the country ..which a*f inland line would effect, pointing out that the inland ljne would serve properties carrying 576,000 sheep :jpd 40,000 cattle and the coastal, line Would serve land carrying 374,000 sheep and 10,000 cattle. The general commercial manager of Railways went thoroughly into the merits and demerits of both routes' from ,a commercial viewpoint, and was greatly impressed with the possibilities. The chairman (Mr. W. G. Sherratt) expressed the view that as members no doubt held divergent opinions as tp the route the line should be constructed, personally he did not think that the Board should venture its vrfews seeing it was probably ‘-a house divided/’

“Is it any of our business anyway where the line is constructed asked Mr. CL H. 4ViDmins. “We don’t know the country, and as the Board’s job is to provide a harbor I think it is out of place for us to hamper the Government with recommendations. No doubt the Government will go fully into the facts and construct the railway on the route it finds most suitable.” “It seems to me,” said Mr T. Todd “that the Government is making an earnest endeavor to ascertain the facts of the route on which the railway is to he constructed, and until that information is available we should not criticise.”

Mr. T. Corson, in proposing that the Chamber’s policy should he supported, emphasised that the Board to ensure the success of the harbor now 'being constructed, would require all the trade it could obtain, which, ho said, would only he derived if the railway was constructed on the inland route. “We don’t want to foster Waikokopu,” he declared. The inland route, if adopted, would greatly develop the district and benefit the settlers besides greatly-decreasing the revenue of the port. In seconding the motion, Mr Smith pointed out that the Chamber had accomplished a great deal of work in the interests of having the railway constructed on a route that would develop the district and that body was prepared to continue its activities, A railway along the inland route, he said, would be beneficial not only in the district from -a developmental standpoint, hut to the farming community and to the trade of Gisborne, lie suggested that the Board accede to the Chamber’s request for support to its policy, even although lie considered that although the Board might use its influence to have the line constructed along an inland route the Government would construct the line where it was considered to he most suitable. Then Mr. J. Tombleson attempted to move that no action be taken hut was ruled out of order for suggesting a direct negative. Mr. A. CL Steele announced hty support to the Chamber's request, saying that the construction of a line on the inland route would be of immense benefit in developing the district and would materially increase trade of the port. Mr. A. H. Wallis contended that the matter should not have come before the Board. Personally, he held he view that railways would 1/e hack numbers in a few years and, therefore, if Gisborne and Wairoa were to be linked up by raU tjse line should be constructed on the cheapest route, as the railways would he supplanted in the future by motor lorries. He contended that if The £l,000,000 it was proposed to expend in the construction of the Mohaka railway viaduct was spent in forming a concrete road to Napier it would be of greater value. Mr. C. E. Armstrong announced that Mr. Rodie, commercial manager of railways, on his recent visit here had said "that railways would never lie a back number, and contended that motor lorries, who could never carry the heavy freights and travel the long distances, would he feeders to the railway. As to the location of the Gisborne-Wairoa railway he considered that the commercial possibilities would lie infinitely greater if the line was constructed on the inland route than would be the case if the line ran along tlie coast. In opposing the motion, Mr. C. H. Williams declared the Board’s objective was to provide a harbor, and lie maintained it was a mistake to interfere with the Government in its investigations as to the location of the railway. “I think there is too much of tliis trying to impress one’s view on the Government, and I think also that the Chamber of Commerce made a mistake in attempting to do so, although I do not make any reflection on that body. Interference such as this is not likely to have a good effect on the Railways and Public Works Departments.” Mr. J: Tombleson held that it was a wrong stand for the Chamber of Commerce to take in opposing the Government in its investigations. After further discussion the motion supporting the Chamber’s policy was lost on the casting vote of the cliair-,-man.